Street Light

Early yesterday morning, I went out on the deck, where Deb, my wife, was standing. She said it felt a little like Hawaii and I politely disagreed, since it was 46 degrees it didn't smell like the tropics. But it was hazy and humid.As she started to list the things I had to do, I said, "Wait" and I went in to get my camera. I may not be in Hawaii but that doesn't mean there is nothing exotic to photograh - such as our neigbors' tree silhouetted against a street lamp and the deep purple morning sky.Even though I liked what I saw when I framed this photo, the camera saw it very differently and that's what I like about photography. Sometimes my camera captures things that I make better with software. But other times I see something and my camera makes it better with it's own internal software. It's a good relationship. . .

iPhonography

I didn't make the word "iPhonography" up. It is a "school" of photography these days and you have noticed that several of my recent posts have a different look. That's partly because I've been use my phone quite a bit to take photos. It is also because I have been using an app called Instagram to edit and then post the photos.Of course, it's not the camera or the software that takes the photos. But in the case of these iPhone photography, both the hardware and the software are more prominent in the look the pictures have. Like it or not, I will be playing around some more with these cool tools and sharing a few of the products here.This photo, incidentally, is in the atrium of the Holiday Inn next to the Rushmore Plaza Civic Center in Rapid City, SD.

What Is Reality?

Here's something that just occurred to me when I saw this picture: Much of "Reality" is what we perceive superimposed with what our culture tells us we should think and feel about our perceptions. Thus, the distorted image of the Colorado state capitol building reflected in a nearby office building isn't real. But if that's not real, is Fox News or or any work by Shakespeare more real?If you are intrigued by this, go back and re-read Plato's "Allegory of the Cave." And for now, that's enough philosophy!

Writing With Light

Photography does mean "writing with light." But you probably knew that. Did you know that if you ride on the back of a golf cart at night and expose the structures along a certain path at the Moon Palace south of Cancun, you get something like this? You do if you use a shutter speed of 1 1/2 seconds. Try it and see what you get.

Procession

This is another unique Christmas decoration that gets put out once a year. There's nothing like a donkey and camel procession that says, "Christmas."(Behind the scenes: For those who might be interested in seeing how framing, composition, aperture and angle affect the outcome of a photograph, check out this alternative view of the "Procession," which was shot using natural window light in our dining room. While I'm at it, here's the first iteration of "Procession," before I realized that the lights on the tree serving as the back drop might provide a little visual interest to the photo.)(Oh, and do I really need to tell you to check out my bokeh?)Canon 5DII 1/30s f/8.0 ISO640 100mm

The Wittenberg Wiener Man

I'd like to think that if I went back to Wittenberg, Germany (where Martin Luther posted his 95 Theses), I could get a better photo of the Wiener Man. Like the girl I posted a few days ago, he looks a bit suspicious. A better shot would have people waiting in line for the wurst he was selling (which I think is the best wurst in Wittenberg!). The Wiener Man would be oblvious to me and I would have a great action shot.For what it's worth, there are very few photos I've taken and posted here that I wouldn't want to take over again so that I could improve them. How do other artists deal with their old art which could be made better as their skills improve?

Leafy Bokeh - Paris

I wasn't looking for bokeh* when I took this photo. In fact, I didn't know what it was at the time. But here it is in all its glory. Also, here is green in all its glory. This time the green is basswood tree leaves in a park in Paris. There is snow out my window but not a speck of snow in the window we look through today in "A Photo A Day."Here's a bit of trivia: the interstices between leaves that cause bokeh in a camera also act as pinhole lenses and if you can find spots of light on the sidewalk that come through the holes, they will be circular because the sun is circular. But in the event of a partial solar eclipse, the projections will be crescent shaped. Don't believe me? Try being in South Africa, Tasmania and most of New Zealand on November 25, 2011. That's when and where the next decent partial solar eclipse occurs.*"The visual quality of the out-of-focus areas of a photographic image, especially as rendered by a particular lens." (Japanese origin)

Details

By Scott Shephard

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Most of the photography I do is very personal and maybe even selfish. I rarely think, "What will they say about this one?" when I push the shutter button. When I frame something, I am more often studying the object being photographed than I am recording it for posterity.Thus, the details that I often capture, such as the back of my daughter-in-law's wedding dress, are nothing more than . . . details. Later, when I am sifting through my photo collection, some of the details jump out at me. And so I present today's Picture of the Day.What I like about this picture isn't my doing - I like the symmetry of each button and loop and their symmetrical relationship to each other. I also like the curves and lines that adorn this dress. Finally, I like the warm, soft light that plays on this subject.The light wasn't my doing either. I just found it. And often that's what photographers do best.

Canon 5DII 70-200mm 2.8 1/250s f/3.5 ISO400 200mm

Pardon Me!

This is not the kind of photo I generally post here. But today I will make an exception. What's wrong with the picture? Aside from breaking several aesthetic and technical rules of photography, it is a model shoot. And I don't do model shoots. But here's the story behind this photo.I was wandering the streets of Mykonos when I noticed a boat in the harbor. It was clearly a photo shoot of some kind. And so I photographed the event from . . . the backside. The thing that fascinates me about this picture (aside from the nice little white boat) is that there are five people present on this boat. The roles of the model, the captain and the photographer are obvious. But what about the two other men? Are they artistic directors? Agents? Close personal friends? And the real question is: Are they getting paid? The man at the front of the boat certainly seems to enjoy his work!

08-09-01 Harley Art

I took this photo during the famous Sturgis Rally Week in Keystone, SD, in 2002. The photo isn't the art, of course. The beautifully chromed and crafted engine of the Harley Davidson is.

Incidentally, this photo shows up as part of a tutorial on a web site called Tutzor. This tutorial turns various parts of photos into a chrome horse.

Canon 1D 1/250s f/8.0 ISO400 70mm

03-31-09 E Pluribus Unum

By Scott Shephard

2009 03-31 E Pluribus Unum

Ethan's second birthday party was this past Saturday and it was an interesting event - twenty-nine guests and enough presents to keep a young person and his parents occupied for a long time.

In between the action my eye was caught by a series of Russian nesting dolls sitting on a hutch that had been stained nearly black. The red and black were a great combination. I shot this with my 50mm 1.2L lens and you can see that the depth of field with this lens can be very narrow.

Canon 5DII 1/125s f/1.2 ISO1000 50mm